Hooks' Winkelman falls one out shy of no-no

Alex Winkelman had a good feeling about his start on Wednesday.
While he said his bullpen session was "nothing special," the Astros prospect kept a positive vibe with him throughout the game.
"You get through the first couple innings and have some success -- I had some hitters off-balance -- and it's a good feeling," he said. "I felt good early on. After that, it was smooth sailing until the ninth inning."

That feeling spread through the dugout and into the stands at Whataburger Field as Winkelman carried a no-hit bid into the ninth inning. He lost it with two outs in Double-A Corpus Christi's 6-0 blanking of Frisco.

With the Astros employing a tandem system with the Hooks, Winkeman (1-5) alternates between starting and working in long relief. And every few starts, like Wednesday, he gets to stretch out to six innings.
"You got to take advantage when you get those own games," he said. "It's a good chance to go deep into games and prove your worth as a starter."
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Knowing he didn't have another starting pitcher waiting his turn behind him, Winkelman retired the first five batters he faced. Working around walks by Jose Cardona in the second and Luke Tendler in the fourth, the 23-year-old breezed.
"Honestly, just had a good mix of pitches and did a good job of staying out of the middle of the plate. That's where a lot of my struggles have come from this year so far ... making a lot of mistakes over the plate," he said. "I did a pretty good job of staying on the corners and going up and down. My catcher, Garrett Stubbs, did an awesome job just keeping them off-balance the whole game. I was pretty much just rolling with him the whole time."

After getting through the sixth, Winkelman noticed the zero in the hit column for the RoughRiders. Each time he stepped off the mound, the southpaw wondered if manager Rodney Linares was going to take him out since the Astros tend to limit starters to six innings.
"I was hoping they would let me keep going, and they didn't say anything," he said. "It's the baseball thing of never talk to the starting pitcher and they just treated it like it was the first or second inning, even though it was later in the game. Glad that they let me keep going out there and I was appreciative they let me bend the rules a little bit."
Piling up 10 groundouts, Winkelman set down 16 batters in a row to move within one out of the first complete-game no-hitter in Hooks history. Rangers No. 12 prospectAndy Ibáñez was all that stood between him and the Texas League record book.

Winkelman had retired Ibanez on a fly ball, groundout and lineout, so he and Stubbs debated if they should stick with the same approach or try something new. They went with the former and Ibanez went up the middle for the first hit of the night.
"As soon as I let go of the pitch, I knew he was going to be on it and hit the ball hard," the Southeast Missouri State product said. "I just felt bad. You have the whole crowd and the whole stadium on you, hoping that you can pull through for them. It's tough to let yourself down, let your teammates down a little bit, even though they're happy for you and the success is good. But the energy at that moment is so high and then it gets sucked out of the stadium. It's pretty tough to deal with."
Linares made his first trip to the mound, telling his starter he was proud as he summoned Andrew Walter to secure the final out.
While the Missouri native said the one hit will stay with him forever, he's determined to focus on Wednesday's positives.
"I just had a good feeling all day that it was going to be a good night and it turned out to be a pretty special night," he said after lowering his ERA from 4.96 to 3.92 in 10 Double-A appearances.
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Astros No. 27 prospectJason Martin, Jack Mayfield and Dexture McCall all went yard for the Hooks, with McCall homering in his third straight game.